Ancestry & Evolution
The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Black Plague’s quirky genetics, 700 years later
The Black Death ravaged the European population, but some survived due to a genetic mutation also implicated in HIV infection ...
Modern genetics undermines neat boundaries of species
Christopher Kemp at Popular Science shows us how genetics can turn one species of bat into seven, all from within ...
Neanderthal link to fat metabolism in the brain
Modern humans of European descent have a lot in common with their Neanderthal ancestors when it comes to genes related ...
DNA evidence suggests Black Plague not a rodent problem
Archaeologists and forensic scientists who have examined 25 skeletons unearthed in the Clerkenwell area of London a year ago believe ...
What does it means to donate your genetics but not be a father?
It’s not unheard-of for a lesbian couple to ask a close male friend to donate; but I’d naively assumed that ...
Ancient viral DNA may play key role in how human stem cells work
A significant portion of our genetic material is comprised of holdovers from viral infections long ago. Now it seems like ...
Urban students’ ancestry added to National Geographic project
Through City College biology professor Michael Hickerson’s project, 200 students are participating in a global research initiative run by National ...
Virus adopted into human DNA may play roll in stem cell pluripotency
McGill Computational Biology Professor Guillaume Bourque suggests in a new paper just published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology that ...
Intermarriage families’ DNA identifies two intellectual disability genes
Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have discovered two new genes linked to intellectual disability, according to ...
Gene studies suggest ‘races’ may exist but sociologists push back, fearing stereotypes
Sociologists worry that research into population differences will create a new kind of racism while geneticists believe that social scientists ...
Genetics has dramatically changed the fields of archeology and anthropology. What next?
We are in the midst of an an ancient-genomics boom. In the past year, researchers have unveiled the two oldest ...
DNA identifies missing WW2 soldier, but US won’t use technique to find more
U.S. Army Private First Class Lawrence S. Gordon — killed in Normandy in 1944, then mistakenly buried as a German ...
Why wooly mammoths were so darn extinction-prone
It’s long been known that some of the last woolly mammoths to walk the planet lived in or around the ...
DNA shows early humans killed off giant ostrich
The moa, a giant, ostrich-like bird, lived on New Zealand until the late 13th century, when it went extinct. But ...
Revisiting the “gay gene” controversy: Homosexuality is only a disorder if society makes it one
Earlier this year, findings shared at the annual AAAS meeting triggered a firestorm of "gay gene" headlines and reactionary op-eds ...
Is good parenting in the genes?
Scared expectant parents are always told that knowing how to take care of their offspring just comes naturally. Turns out ...
We’ve got more in common with Neanderthals than once thought
If you'd asked me five years ago whether modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, I'd have said: probably not. I wasn't ...
Your genes give you a unique world of smells–1.7 trillion scents
Humans can distinguish between 1.7 trillion smells on average. Ed Yong blogs about it at National Geographic, revealing in the ...
Why, when and how did the chicken cross the Pacific?
Using ancient chicken DNA, researchers at the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have attempted to trace ...
Y chromosome: wimpy or lean and mean?
Fear not for genetic machismo: Reports of the human Y-chromosome’s demise are greatly exaggerated. Over time, it may have evolved ...
DNA evidence suggests humans drove New Zealand bird species to extinction
DNA says we are guilty. Early human settlers probably did wipe out the moas of New Zealand. Moa DNA suggests ...
Chicken genomes and human history: What can the DNA of our animal associates can reveal about our past?
A new study uses chicken genetics to poke holes in the theory that Polynesians reached South America before Europeans. It ...
Milk genes: Why only some of us can drink milk
The Class Mammalia is, after all, defined by the gland that produces milk. But while most of us have lost ...
The selfish gene debate: The power of stories in science and society
Science writer David Dobbs wrote an article late last year calling for a new narrative to help us understand evolution ...
Does competition drive diversity of species?
In Darwinian evolution, organisms compete for resources, and the winners get to pass their genome to future generations. According to ...
Recent natural selection altered the appearance of europeans
It's no surprise that natural selection does not always take an evolutionary time scale. When thousands of knights died during ...
Genetic realities of race aren’t the ones you’d expect
Race is an intellectual taboo, and racial explanations for human traits are seen as scientific non-starters. From The Biological Jew ...
